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Style Within

Home Renovation Company Award

The world’s leading interiors platform, Houzz, has presented its 2018 Customer Service award to a home renovation company in Bath. As an interior design and home renovation specialist, Style Within has been refurbishing clients’ homes for the past 14 years. Houzz bases its award on a company’s testimonials through the year, as well as its willingness to offer professional help and advice to readers.

Nick Prescott is the Principal Designer at Style Within and this award reflects his two key objectives: first, to deliver the highest quality service with the mosty appropriate designs for his clients; second, to offer practical guidance, tips and advice to readers embarking on their own home renovation.

Home renovation Guidance

Whether you want to decorate and furnish a room, upgrade electrics, install a new kitchen, or build an extension, Nick provides ready advice on a range of interior design and renovation topics. “When you go to a kitchen shop to buy a kitchen, the assistant doesn’t ask you about your heating or electrics, flooring or paint scheme; you probably wouldn’t expect them to. But, at some stage, you will need to have the full picture of what it takes to acquire your new kitchen; and the total cost. Our approach is holistic; we design and manage absolutely everything needed to deliver the final outcome from concept to completion.”

Nick has been designing and project managing house renovations for the past 14 years. “I learn something new from each project, because every circumstance and every client is different. If I think something is worth sharing, I can help others by passing on those tips and advice that I found useful. People want to know how to carry out a house renovation and avoid the pitfalls; how to deal with contractors; to understand the different features of kitchen cabinets; to see why they might choose this tap rather than that tap; to recognise the advantages and disadvantages of a wall-mounted WC; to understand why they might buy a loop carpet rather than a twist carpet. Ultimately, they want to know how much it will all cost. That’s why I write about these things; our blog has advice on subjects as diverse as kitchen glass splashbacks to structural steel for extensions.”

House refurbishment costs – revealed

“Many companies won’t readily share true cost information on their websites because it might deter potential clients from contacting them; people are generally surprised by the cost of things. We take a different view. We publish what we think people want to know; typical renovation costs, general pricing information, and our fees. We want to be up front with our clients and expose the likely cost before we go too far. Better to be sure early in the process, or re-set expectation, than to spend weeks and money on designs that turn out to be unaffordable.”

“We want clients to work with us with their eyes open. Good interior design and house renovation is reassuringly expensive, and we need to be prepared for this. It is our job to get the best value for our clients. We ensure that our designs are cost-effective, and we run competitive tenders to drive down the price. Indeed we often find that our knowledge and negotiation more than pay for our fees; in a recent project, we were able to identify and negotiate savings for our clients of over £17 000.”

Interior design secrets

“I used to think that I should keep my design ideas close to my chest. We are encouraged to be protective of our “intellectual property”. Indeed, I’ve created many bespoke and novel designs to suit particular clients. However, when reality set in, I realised that there’s no great advantage to keeping things secret; if people want to know more about the glass breakfast bar design, or the TV in the mechanised ottoman, then great. I’m happy to share pretty well everything.” Here are some links:

best of Houzz 2018

Houzz has presented this award to Style Within for the past 4 years. Our consistent approach to customer service is evidenced by the gracious testimonials and references supplied by our clients.

If you have a renovation in Bath or Bristol, or need some help with your interior design, please call Nick on 07711 857670, or send us a note from our contacts page. You may also care to read more about our full range of interior design services.